


There is nothing for me but to love you replay.

by pickyourselfupfred



Series: Fred and Ginger forever [35]
Category: Astaire/Rogers RPF, Astaire/Rogers movies
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 03:29:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14535666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickyourselfupfred/pseuds/pickyourselfupfred
Summary: They discover,as do the Barkleys, that spats can be fun.





	There is nothing for me but to love you replay.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samantha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samantha/gifts), [taylor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor/gifts).



> This whole section of the movie seems so spontaneous that i wondered if art mirrored life.

They were now embarking on what they thought of as their main dialogue scenes in the movie where they had some of the spats and quarrels that established the Barkleys as a loving but cantankerous normal couple. Charles Walters had taken them to one side before the shoot to talk to them about his views on the way he felt the direction in these scenes ought to go.  
“Now Fred and Ginger, you’ve known each other through all the years at RKO and you’ve learned a lot about the ways each other reacts and acts. Now you’ve got to imagine something more. These two have been married for God knows how many years. They love each other deeply and that will never change but they are confident enough in their love to know that a few spats and arguments might allow them to let off dangerous steam but it’s better to bring them out in the open than let them fester. We’re shooting their first real row of the movie after the party where Josh felt abandoned by Dinah. Now you’ve got to imagine that you’ve been together 24/7 for years, you know each other inside out. That you deeply love each other is unquestionable but you also know each other’s frailties and insecurities so as the argument continues we, as an audience, have to see that whatever happens you won’t ever be parted. So then, the spats will always be followed by lots of loving”.  
They both just nodded, not quite wanting to speak just now.  
“OK, we’ll take 20 or so while we set up for the bathroom scene. Why don’t you two talk it through and maybe even block some moves whilst you wait?”  
With that he scurried off leaving them both seeking each others eyes as the irony of what the director had said hit home.  
“Oh Fred”, Ginger was first to speak, “We are like an old married couple and we do love each other as much for the faults as all the good things”.  
“We don’t have to act those scenes”, he replied, “Just let all that timing, trust and loving come out”.  
“And making up is such fun”, she smiled.

They moved to the bathroom set where, as Fred remarked, MGM had gone totally over the top. The set was the size of a small locker room and his and hers was the main theme. They quickly worked out some initial ideas and were preparing to sit it out till Walters called when Fred, catching sight of a huge bath tub, nudged Ginger saying, “Typical MGM, it probably won’t even be in shot”.  
Ginger ran her fingers along the sill of the tub, “This remind you of anything?”  
His eyes twinkled as he easily got the drift of her thoughts.

It had been only last night. Ginger had finished up early at the studio and had gone home where she’d happily make a light snack for Fred’s evening meal when he got in. She knew, full well, that he didn’t have the greatest of appetites but would appreciate her offering. She had, whilst doing this, mused on how lovely it had been having Fred around the house whilst his wife and kids were away. He was with her almost nightly now and boy was it good.  
He arrived promptly at 7.00 and told her he’d wash up before eating. Always needs a bit of down time to himself she had thought so clucked around in the kitchen, smiling to herself as, occasionally, from the confines of the bathroom, she heard snatches of song as he carried out his ablutions.”Gershwin”, she thought,”always Gershwin”.  
Then she bethought herself that she’d have a bubbly, scented bath herself whilst Fred ate.

She made her way to the bathroom and on entering found Fred, clad in his old bathrobe and looking, as he could at times, very boyish and cute as a button.  
“My you do scrub up well”, she giggled as Fred eyed her in that Stan Laurel way he had.  
“Just gonna turn on a hot tub for myself while you snack and ………….oh Freddie, not again”.  
She stared unbelievingly into the tub.  
“Oh Fred, I blame all those hotels you stayed in during your early years in showbiz”.  
“What”, he replied, utterly confused.  
“This”, she said leaning over the tub and beginning to count.  
“One...two...three….four…...five”, as she pulled out towels discarded in the tub.  
“Five towels in half an hour”, she sighed.  
“Well, I used them so I put them for the laundry”.  
“Well, Mr Astaire, this isn’t a laundry, it’s a home and we use the same towels over and over”.  
“But”…  
“But me no buts”, she interrupted, “Now get out of here while I clean up your mess. If you’ve got one habit that really annoys me this is it. Now disappear!”  
“But I do it at home”, he spluttered.  
“But it’s not your home”, she angrily retorted.  
“Then I’d better be going”, he snapped back and with as much dignity as he could muster swept out of the room.

She gritted her teeth and set to clearing up his mess letting her sudden burst of annoyance dissipate. After all, he was with her and if they had been married they’d have sorted this out long ago.

A short while later a soft knock at the door followed by Fred peering in and saying,  
“I’m so sorry baby. I should have thought, I wasn’t being sensible. I’ll never do it again”.  
She turned to him and smiled, “I’m sorry too old fella, I went over the top a bit”.  
“No, you were right. I can’t be here and treating it like a hotel”.  
“When you’re here Fred it’s our home, whenever we’re together it’s ours”.  
She came over to him, slightly disarrayed from her tidying frenzy.  
He gently pushed back an errant lock of her hair and took her in his arms.  
“Come to bed sweetie”, and soon, nestling in each other’s arms the mini feud was truly forgotten and then, when Fred caressed her in his own very special way it became the prelude to a night of intense and reaffirming loving that confirmed their bond for life.  
Her waking words next morning added reinforcement. “ Hey Fred, can we quarrel and make up again tonight”.

Fred came back to reality as Charles Walters voice rang out, “Let’s go”. He strode over to the couple and continued, “Let’s start by walking through the bathroom fight routine before we film the sequence, that ok by you guys?”  
As they’d barely thought about the moves they would make they both winged it through the blocking but their instinctive rapport with each other meant they could almost predict the other’s moves and gestures so they breezed through the walkthrough until the moment when Dinah, in her frustration throws something at Josh. Ginger rummaged through the cabinet on the set and found an item to hurl at Fred.  
“Yay,” said Walters, “That’s ok, it’ll wing him and provide the set up for their reconciliation. Fred interrupted at this point, giving Ginger a sly wink, “Why doesn’t she throw something like a wet towel?”  
“Na, too soft”, replied Walters, “It won’t hurt him enough for her to worry about him”.  
“Just thought it might bring him to his senses in a different way. I mean a wet towel in the face would shatter his rather pompous stand and lack of consideration and make him realised how stupid he’s been”.  
“No Fred, he’s got to be hurt in the physical sense. After all how would a wet towel make anyone romantic?”  
The laughs this comment elicited from his two stars made Walters say to himself,  
“Movie stars, they’re all nuts”.


End file.
